After a space merchant vessel receives an unknown transmission as a distress call, one of the crew is attacked by a mysterious life form and they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.
In the distant future, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo are on their way home when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon. The crew are under obligation to investigate and the spaceship descends on the moon afterwards. After a rough landing, three crew members leave the spaceship to explore the area on the moon. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a distress call. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship and they must deal with the consequences.Written by
blazesnakes9
Peter Beale, one of the Fox executives argued with Giger over his fee, which Giger saw as insulting, and the same money paid to a high grade secretary working in Switzerland, Gordon Carrol fought in Giger's corner, in a discussion that lasted three hours. See more »
Goofs
(at around 8 mins) When Dallas is first entering Mother, as he passes through the last doorway... when he is seen outside the door, one of the lights on the door-frame is burned out (on his left) but in the next shot, it is lit. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Brett:
This is the worst shit I've ever seen, man.
Parker:
What you say? You got any biscuits over there?
Ripley:
Here's some cornbread.
Parker:
Cornbread. Yeah.
Lambert:
I am cold.
Parker:
Still with us, Brett?
Brett:
Right.
Kane:
Oh, I feel dead.
Parker:
Anybody ever tell you you look dead, man?
See more »
Crazy Credits
The title of the movie is slowly created one line at a time at the top of the screen during the opening credits, starting out with the I, then the slash in A and the backslash in N, and then the vertical lines in L and E (so it looks like / I I I \). After that, the ensuing lines of each letter are added slowly one at a time until the title is fully visible. See more »
Alternate Versions
Extra scenes in the 25th Anniversary Edition:
Lambert slapping Ripley in the face before being restrained by Parker and Brett outside the infirmary.
Brett's blood falling on Parker as he is carried off by the Alien into the heating ducts.
Ripley finding Brett and Dallas cocooned while trying to make it to the shuttle craft.
Kane pulls out and sets down a weapon of some kind while investigating the alien eggs.
Alien is the pinnacle of sci-fi horror, and it is the standard for which all are measured.